The estuary view
From the headland's edge you take in the Fowey estuary, the sailing boats and Polruan on the far bank; this is the real prize for the climb.
Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hchc2009 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nilfanion — CC BY-SA 4.0
What stays with you at St Catherine's Castle is not the castle but the view from its lip: the Fowey estuary winding between green hills, sailing boats threading a narrow blue channel out to sea, and the village of Polruan stacked up the opposite bank. The ruin itself is modest, a two-storey D-shaped tower raised around 1538-1540, paid for jointly by Thomas Treffry, a Fowey grandee, and the town of Fowey itself, on the orders of Henry VIII as he fortified the whole south coast against a feared invasion by France and the Emperor Charles V. Its job was simple: a few guns closing the harbour mouth, which explains why it sits on a rocky headland that looks at nothing but water; it was one of a pair of small forts guarding the haven. The interesting part is that the site never retired. In 1855, during the Crimean War, two new gun positions were added on a lower level below the Tudor tower; in the summer of 1940 naval guns returned to the headland with concrete emplacements, and the battery stayed in service until late 1943. So in one small patch you walk through four centuries of fear of the sea, and it is a story told in twenty minutes at most. There is little interpretation, no staff and no facilities whatsoever: English Heritage runs it with no ticket and no fence. The walk is half the point. From the centre of Fowey you follow the Esplanade along the water to Readymoney Cove, a small sheltered sandy beach families love, with public toilets at the back of it, then a short but properly steep woodland path begins, muddy after rain and part of the South West Coast Path. Allow 15-20 minutes from town. Pushchairs have no business here; children who walk on their own, roughly six and up, enjoy it, but hold hands at the ruins because the seaward edges are unguarded. Fowey itself is a handsome sailing town of narrow lanes effectively closed to visitor cars, and was Daphne du Maurier's home. By car it is about 25 minutes from St Austell and roughly 50 from Truro or Newquay; leave the car at the Main car park at the top of town (269 spaces, about five minutes downhill to the centre) or the small Readymoney car park (60 spaces, free November to mid-March, charged the rest of the year). Without a car: train to Par, then bus 24 for a short ride into town. The honest verdict: do not cross Cornwall for these ruins. Make them the end of a Fowey day, with the passenger ferry to Polruan and an hour on Readymoney beach on a clear summer afternoon.
From the headland's edge you take in the Fowey estuary, the sailing boats and Polruan on the far bank; this is the real prize for the climb.
Henry VIII's tower, the 1855 Crimean gun positions and the 1940 emplacements sit side by side on a small rocky headland.
A small sheltered sandy beach with public toilets at the foot of the path, ideal for a family stop before or after the climb.
Headland above Readymoney Cove, Fowey PL23 1JH
Not with a pushchair; the final path is a steep, root-and-mud woodland climb, so stop at Readymoney beach instead. With children who walk on their own, roughly six and up, it is a pleasant short adventure, with care at the unguarded edges of the ruins.
No. If you want a complete Tudor fort with towers, rooms and an exhibition, go to Pendennis in Falmouth or St Mawes, both paid and staffed. St Catherine's is a free ruin you finish in twenty minutes, and its reward is the view and the walk to it.